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Thursday, May 19, 2011

This One Bites

Wow. First, THANKS to everyone who participated in the LITBM fest. It was a laughing great time, but it would've been nothing without you all.

I'm still recovering from this week. So I'll present you with another funny, but it's also something of a problem. A funny problem.

Most of you know we have a cat, Flower.

Well, Flower's not the greatest cat in the world. She was found by my dad in the back woods of Mississippi. We've had her since she was about four weeks old, and she's regularly fed, etc.

You'd think that would make a difference to her, right? It doesn't.

We (somewhat) affectionately call her our "booger cat." Flower doesn't like to play, she doesn't like to be petted. Occasionally, I'll find a half-eaten lizard carcass in some odd place in the house, and some days, out of the blue, she'll bite one of us.

And homey don't play with those bites, either. She draws blood.

Flower is affectionate on two occasions 1-When it's cold; and 2-When I take the white clothes out of the dryer and start folding them.

Just the whites. Here's a shot of her in them purring. Loudly.

She's a black and white cat, and I don't want her on the white towels because she leaves black hairs on them.

Somehow I think she knows this.

And when I try to shoo her off them, guess what she does? Yep. She bites me. Here's a shot of her getting ready to bite me.

I'm about to go for that sock under her foot, and I took this picture because I've gotten to where I can read her actions. See those eyes?

Many of you are cat owners. What do you do with such a cantankerous feline?

I'm considering donating her to the new homeowners. No, that wouldn't be right. I know her, and I'll put up with her quirks.

I'd just like to make her cut it out. If possible...

Have a great weekend, reader-friends! I'm behind on awards to distribute, but I'll do that Monday~ <3

46 comments:

Aaaand ... this is why I don't own a cat. She's cute and all, but I would be hardpressed to house a creature who attacked me while I folded laundry. I'm grumpy enough when I fold laundry as it is. Regarding advice: I'll defer to the cat-lovers out there! Good luck!

My male cat Keats gets into these "moods" at certain times of day. I did some research and learned that cats are crepuscular--meaning they are most alert and into frisky hunting and hunt play behaviors at dawn and dusk. I think maybe you could try experimenting with some cat toys when she's in one of her moods. Jingle balls, toy on a stick or maybe something more preylike--a ZhuZhu battery powered hamster for her to chase.

It sounds like her hunting instincts are just particularly keen, probably because she as a feral kitten. She just needs an outlet.

And she must like the smell of bleach. My kitty loves dirty socks. Go figure.

My cat is quite capricious too, she is petted only when she wants too, and she has her mood swings more often than not :) She currently has little kittens so she is kinder and more tolerable than usual, because little babies always soften mother's heart :)

Ouch! Sorry. Um, I don't have a cat or a dog--family has allergies. :( When I was growing up we had a dog, and a lot of stray cats hanging out in our back yard. I was probably 8 or 9, and we had some sheets hanging on clotheslines outside. I was getting them down when this big mama cat just attacked me. She lunged but I ran behind a tree, and man, you should have seen those claws! It turned out she just had babies in our yard, and she was only trying to protect them.

Scary! Flower looks exactly like my daughters old cat Chevao. He had the same nasty habits. He was also part Siamese and they are known for nasty habits. Can't imagine how Chevao's parents got to Mississippi though. LOLNancyN. R. Williams, The Treasures of Carmelidrium

I don't have cats (Beloved Husband isn't a fan). However, I do have one squirrely dog who will bite and he isn't joking around either. We've done lots of animal behavior stuff with him and he's better, but he needs vigilant owners who can call him on his moodiness. He also isn't a lover of being snuggled or pet. At all. Unless he's in the mood.

I don't know if this would work, but maybe distract flowers with a toy? I think Laurel suggested it. Something she likes more than warm laundry. It works for Keeno if he isn't too far gone. When he is, a good squirt with a waterbottle snaps him out of it.

I can relate to having a difficult pet. Keeno is 2 and we have roughly 14 more vigilant years ahead of us. Love him to pieces most of the time.

@Catibug--I love you!!! And it's true. Flower does not bite you or Daddy. I'm not really going to give her away, don't worry. ;o) ((hugs)) <3

@Cherie--yikes! My brother got attacked by a stray once like that. I think he tried to pet it and it bit him. I've always lived by the rule, "Don't pet strange animals." I guess Flower's strange. :D

@Anne--I used to keep fish! Then Dad gave us Flower. :p

@Liz--it's true. And I'm so sorry you're unable to keep pets. Have you thought about those hairless kind? My BFF Dara is like you, and she has a hairless dog. That makes me LOL! :D <3

@Summer--She IS a pretty cat. Too bad she's such a booger. But it's not like she's on a biting rampage or anything. She's just ... moody. :p Laurel's comment is so great. I think she's onto something~ <3

LOL! Too funny! She's just a mean cat and you're stuck with her. Make the best of it. lol. I've had mean cats before, and there's just nothing you can do.I know those eyes too.... vicious! I used to have a trick with my cats when I wanted them to move, set out a fresh, big white piece of paper and they will instantly go lay on it. ;)

you must love her a lot! i'm allergic to cats (although my three year old pretends to be one a lot) and own a dog. he just likes to lay on my bed all day long. sadly, he's been ignored since i had two more babies besides him. i think he still wonders what happened to those days when he was my only. :0) christy

Your little FLower wasn't properly socialized by her mother. When a kitten is taken away from her/his mother before the proper time (Twelve weeks) it will bite. She thinks of you as another cat and treats you as such.

Unfortunately there is nothing you can do about this. When she bite you again howl like a cat. Let her know she's hurt you.

This is what a friend of mine does who has a similar problem. She has read every cat book known to man. This is the best advice I can give you.

Don't give her away because she will do the same to another family and they will put her down.

There is a book on HOW TO THINK LIKE A CAT. I believe that is the title. There might be some other helpful hints in there to curb her behavior.

Haha! What a cute post. Booger cat. I love that! She's adorable, too. BTW, your post title rocked. It lured me right over with delusions of something gone very awry in your life! And then it was about your ornery cat. Hee. I'm so glad it wasn't anything bad. ;)

We don't have pets now, but I had one crabby cat when I was growing up. Her name was Mishka, because she looked like a little grey mouse when we got her. Turned out she was a cougar. I wonder if the key part of the problem was "her". All the male cats we had were very friendly, even if they were outdoor cats.

Haha Leigh! That's hilarious, and sad at the same time. What a clever cat! I don't know much about taking care of cats but my friends use a squirt bottle to spray their cat with water when she gets on the counter. I think it works. It might be worth a try. Although that might fix the laundry problem, I don't know what to do about the overall cantankerousness. Good luck and thanks for a great read :)

Man oh man, I can sympathize. We had a cat like Flower. Her name was Lucy. Lucy treated me like Flower treats you. But Lucy loved my husband, in particular, and any man, in general.

Lucy hissed, bit, scratched, did whatever she could to irritate me. As luck would have it, we were moving...a friend of my husband wanted a cat...Lucy loved him...off Lucy went. Lucy lived another 12 years. She died attacking a pitt bull that wandered into her yard, the neighbor's dog. I am NOT joking!!!

Hey, I love cats. But even I know Flower needs to go to another home. Good luck!

We have a cat. When I do the laundry, I'll make a pile of the clothes on one corner of the bed. I purposely leave the rest of the bed clothes-free for the cat. Where does he decide to lay? On the clothes! I'll go in and catch him laying on the clothes. He just looks at me like uh,oh. Caught again.

She is awful pretty; I haven't had a cat for years. I am more a dog person, but do love all animals~I think you need to sacrifice a few timeworn socks for her. Let her have them and separate them when you sort the laundry. She has 2-3 worn out ones; you get the rest. Maybe if she thinks she has won, she will back off?! Good Luck! xXx

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